Margaret of Anjou Arrives in Sydney!

A French Queen of England, a loyal adulteress, a devoted leader but a devastating foe, Queen Margaret is one of Shakespeare’s most vivid renderings of a historic character. Intrigue, betrayal, romance and revenge coloured the life of this brilliant and compelling woman.

In the 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death, countless theatre makers have wrestled with the task that has become a constant in theatrical practice: how do we make this new? We have seen Hamlet played by lions, The Taming of the Shrew in a high school and Macbeth in a kitchen, but only a very brave few have had the ingenuity to take Shakespeare’s words and craft a new play, with ‘all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order’. One such impresario is Elizabeth Schafer, her chosen story that of the Wars’ Reddest Rose, Margaret of Anjou.

Straddling fifty-two years of history, three kings and no fewer than four of Shakespeare’s plays, the story of Queen Margaret is less a power parable, more a tale of the resilience, resolve and charisma that is demanded of a princess, queen, general and mother. Taken from her home in France and married to a foreign king, Margaret fights passionately for her new house. No such fight is without casualties.

Shakespeare Twentyscore and The Puzzle Productions invite you to two staged readings of Shakespeare’s ‘new’ play, Margaret of Anjou. Performances will take place at 7pm on the 8th of July at UNSW’s Io Myers Studio and the 18th of August at the University of Notre Dame Studio, Broadway.

A cast of 16 includes Claire Bird, Teresa Jakovich and Wendy Strehlow as Margaret, Chris Huntly-Turner as Suffolk, John Galea as King Henry VI, and Jane Bergeron as Richard III.

Some further background to the project and a short podcast from the Director are available here.